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# In the eighteenth century pugs were so popular in Europe that one Masonic lodge came to be called the Order of the Pug
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-xviii-veke-mopsy-byli-nastolko-populiarny-v-evrope-chto-odna-iz-masonskikh-lozh-stala-nazyvatsia-ordenom-mopsa-2/
- Published: 2025-08-14T08:58:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:29:07.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Mores, Nature, Humour

In the eighteenth century pugs were so popular in Europe that one Masonic lodge came to be called the Order of the Pug. Members of the order wore collars, barked and bowed down before images of pugs.

The secret society known as the "Order of the Pug" appeared after the papal ban of 1738 forbidding Catholics to join Masonic lodges. Its founder was Clemens August, Elector of Cologne. Formally, the new fellowship had no connection with Freemasonry and disguised itself as a simple club of admirers of a fashionable breed of dog, yet it was unquestionably one of the Masonic societies, and one with very unusual rituals. The initiation rite, for instance, involved scratching at the door and kissing a figure of a pug beneath its tail.

On the other hand, in the symbolism of the pug one may, if so inclined, find plenty of enigmatic and mystical allusions, the Chinese tradition, say, of seeing mysterious signs in the folds of a pug's skin.

Eight years after the society's appearance, in 1748, it found itself outlawed, since under the emblem of the pug there was discovered, on closer inspection, a genuine Masonic lodge, albeit a provincial one.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_17607@14-08-2025_11-58-44.jpg)